Today we woke very early to a black out as it had rained over night and put out the electricity. We fumbled around in the dark regardless and headed downstairs early to ensure we were present when the mini bus arrived to pick us up. We were travelling to Hat Yai where we would then catch the night train to Kuala Lumpur. Steven had some toast for breakfast but I wasn't hungry as it was far too early so sipped a coffee. The mini van as by Thailand tradition arrived late and full of people and luggage but by some miracle we managed to squeeze on and crawl got the back seat. Our bags were then loaded on to the bus and crammed in the aisle in front of us thus cutting off any possible escape route... This made me nervous.

We drove on about five to ten minutes where we parked outside another hostel and the driver proceeded to have a huge debate with some Thai lady about tickets. She climbed on and checked all our tickets before a discrepancy arose with the ticket sold to the girl in front. What followed then was numerous phone calls and verification from said girl to prove her ticket, which made Steven slowly more and more stressed behind her. This was due to the fact that we had a train to catch at three pm and couldn't possibly miss it... Last thing we needed was delays especially so early in the trip. The problem was eventually solved and off we went ...with another three people on board. We then had to contend with crossing two small amounts of water before reaching the mainland and for this would use a small car ferry. We waited in queue for our turn and Steven was getting more and more stressed as the minutes passed by. The guy who sold us the tickets said we would arrive in Hat Yai at twelve pm or one pm at the latest if traffic was bad and it was now already after nine.

We crossed the two stretches of water before we were on our way and speeding towards our destination, due to the delays the driver obviously was feeling a bit pressured and was flying down the road. At one point a ambulance with its blue lights on and sirens blaring flew past us only for us to overtake them about three miles later (it was still on its blue lights... Shows how fast we were going). In the end he covered a good 90 kilometres in one hour which was quite impressive given the roads. The guy was driving like a crazy person and given that we were in the back seat we spent most of the time in the air as the suspension ensured that we spent little time on our seats... this was quite unnerving given that these were the only seats without belts. On the way to Hat Yai I continually tried reassuring Steven that there was nothing we could do but chill out. If we make it then great... If not then we can't really do much a bout it. Thailand is hardly the place where complaints are listened to and compensation given, he acknowledged this but was still massively peeved that we may miss our train.

However mid-way through the journey a fellow passenger gave us some entertainment and even made Steven crack a smile. He was French and a complete fruit loop. I don't know what he had taken but he was a high as a kite giggling throughout the journey... Hysterically at times! In the end he had us all in stitches with his random comments and continual laughter. Sadly he bid us farewell in Trang and went off on his own unique adventure. Once we had arrived in Trang we lugged our bags off the bus knowing full well we had missed the connecting bus to Hat Yai that departed at eleven, so wouldn't make it before the train departed but there was little we could do about it. Then they told us to get back on the bus and we were elated... Looked like this bus was actually going the whole way with us. We climbed back on and spread out on the seats (there was now about five or six or us) and headed off... Steven now had a smile on his face and was reassured we could actually make it in time... Then we arrived at Trang bus station and were removed from the bus again. Turned out we would catch our connecting bus from here in a bout ten mins or so, these were obviously Thai minutes as they passed exceptionally slowly.

Eventually at eleven fifty (meant to be in Hat Yai by twelve) we climbed back on... Again on the the back seat where there was even less space then the last bus. We were crammed like sardines and off we went. We were both now a little nervous and I was getting more and more annoyed at the potential extra expense of missing the train. We flew down the road and for miles Steven tried to locate a sign displaying the distance to Hat Yai so we could at least work out the time needed. I think I must have fallen asleep as I woke with a jolt when we suddenly stopped. We had pulled in to a service station for a loo break and this didn't fill me with joy as it meant we were still a fair distance away from our destination. Steven was sitting still and a little stiff looking so I asked what was wrong, he pointed over his left shoulder and there was a young guy asleep on his shoulder and looking very comfortable.... Lol.

I climbed out and headed for the loo when I noticed my new trousers had frayed already grrr! They had sewn the waistband to the trousers not taking into account the waistband is weaved so the stitch would constantly pull the threads until separated. This had occurred and the trousers had a three inch split on the waist. Not impressed I climbed back on the bus and sulked like a five year old girl.

We carried on bombing it down the road and aiming for every pot hole on route when we finally saw a sign for Hat Yai ....40km away. We checked the time and saw we would make it in fine time. We sat back and relaxed slightly before pulling into the bus station a while later. We climbed out and asked a local guy if this was Hat Yai but he was too busy trying to get us into his taxi to answer, I can never understand these guys... For a start he was a motorcycle taxi so how on earth he planned to get the two of us and our bags on his bike I don't know.

We asked a women on the bus and she questioned where we were going... After a few hand gestures she picked up the train station and told us to get on aboard then explained to the driver in Thai that we were getting off at the train station. She then climbed out at the next stop and wished us luck.

We eventually arrived at Hat Yai train station and said our thanks and farewells before lugging our bags into the station. After enquiring it turned out that the train no longer departs at three pm but four so we had plenty of time to get here. We sighed and wandered off to find food, we found a small cafe on the platform and Steven bought some rice with pork and chicken while I munched an apple. We had bought them from a guy on the platform for one hundred baht... Amazing, two bags of apples and a bag of pears! That's me sorted. Steven munched his lunch then headed off to the seven eleven while I guarded the bags, he returned a short while later with some noodles and a few pastries for the journey.

Before long it was three pm and we boarded the train (although it was departing at four we could board at three). We climbed on and found our beds without showing anyone our tickets or anyone stopping us. The train was very nice in comparison to previous night trains and consisted of three carriages. Two of the carriages had seats in them and one had beds. The sleeper carriage where we boarded was really clean and very tidy. It was a fairly long carriage with beds in twos all the way down each side... Very different to previous trains where there are at least six of you in a small space. The beds were very comfy and each one had a window and privacy curtain. The only down side was the fact there was nowhere to put our bags. Normally you slide them under the bunk but on this train there was no space, so for the time being we chucked them on the top bunk (Steven's) and curled up on my bottom bunk.

We did a top and tail manoeuvre and it was really comfy. There was a few people boarding every now and then but given the way the beds were laid out you felt like you had your own space. The toilets were also a pleasant surprise as they were western... Very clean and even had loo roll, thought I was going to faint! I put on my Pjs straight away and after locating my travel sewing kit (kindly obtained from one of our many Indian hotels) promptly started sewing my trousers back together. After a very hap handed attempt at sewing I settled down with the iPad and started reading "First they killed my father" which is about a young girl in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge regime and recalls what her and many Cambodians went through during a horrific period in Cambodia's history. I am trying to read books about the various places we are visiting to give me a deeper understanding of the history and stories behind the sights we see.

Soon four pm was upon us and off we went... The carriage wasn't full but we assumed there would be a few stops before the border. Still no one had checked our tickets but we weren't bothered and carried on reading. We were both deeply engrossed in our books and had said little to each other, when suddenly we were at the border and being told to take our belongings off the train and pass through immigration. At this point I was in too much of a hurry to realise I was in my pyjamas and hurried off the train. Immigration was a lot less of a palaver than we both thought it would be and we passed through quickly. The girl searching the bags was very friendly although not very thorough ..I didn't mind as it made the whole process quicker and soon enough we were back outside waiting for the train which was still sitting in Thailand while we waited in Malaysia.

Soon we were back on board and engrossed in our books once more as we chugged off down the tracks... It was only now that we saw a conductor and he actually check our tickets lol, thankfully we were in the right place and relaxed back down. By now we were feeling peckish so munched on some fruit and pastries before attempting to find some hot water for our noodles. With no luck we gave up and carried on reading. Later on a young guy came by who was selling food from his trolley, he had some egg noodles with veg so we enquired about them. He said they were fifty so we were quite pleased and went to pay ...then Steven remembered we were in Malaysia and asked if he even accepted baht. He said no only Malaysian ringgits, so it actually turned out instead of charging us a pound for the noodles (we were going by the baht) he was actually charging us ten pounds... I just laughed and we told him to get lost.

Later on we were starving so Steven went in search of an assistant to ask about hot water but before he found an assistant he found a snack cart which sold all sorts of food and had hot water. However the money grabbing guy in the cart wouldn't give us any hot water unless it was for noodles from the trains cart. Even when Steven explained we had no ringgits he wouldn't budge... It was so stupid as we had literally just crossed the border and there was nowhere to draw money. I was so angry... Mainly because I was starving and had only eaten fruit and a pastry today. Eventually we just gave up and munched on some more fruit, good job we bought so much.

As the evening drew to a close we sat and listened to the guy opposite devour two huge packets of crisps and goodness knows what else before I finished reading my book (well worth a read), put in my ear plugs and fell asleep... We were both shattered.